


Can't We Just Talk

by isnt_that_wizard



Series: We'll Always Be More Than A Band (JATP) [15]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alex and Julie just want to be somewhere else, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arguments, Can I call this fluff?, Established Relationship, Fighting, Fluff and Angst, Jealous Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Jealousy, Luke Patterson Being an Asshole (Julie and The Phantoms), M/M, Making Up, Rated teen for language, Reggie Peters Being an Asshole (Julie and The Phantoms), and not deal with these two, but they still met when they were 16/17, do i care?? nope, ooc reggie?? sure, there is a happy ending i promise, these boys need communication, these tags suck and i'm sorry, they're adults so who's to say it's ooc, they're all 22/23 in this, you don't know and neither do i, you tell me - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:15:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28022268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isnt_that_wizard/pseuds/isnt_that_wizard
Summary: "Wow, Luke, that was real mature," Reggie let out, tight lipped as he pulled himself away from Luke's embrace."What?" Luke played innocent, trying to bring Reggie back to him. The bassist held a hand against Luke's chest to stop him from coming closer."What?" he mocked, rolling his eyes. "So you're telling me you didn't just come over here and make it as obvious as humanly possible that we're dating just to get a guy to stop talking to me?"--------When Luke lets his jealously come out in what is not the best or smartest way, Reggie gets upset. An argument breaks out between the couple, and they realize that maybe they have a lot they need to be talking about. Communication is key.
Relationships: Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Flynn/Julie Molina, Luke Patterson/Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: We'll Always Be More Than A Band (JATP) [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956307
Comments: 26
Kudos: 196





	Can't We Just Talk

"Hey, baby," Reggie heard a familiar murmur in his ear, his boyfriend's arm snaking around his waist. Luke was pressed close to him, his hand working its way just barely under his t-shirt to press against Reggie's skin. Reggie turned to Luke with a quick smile. 

"Hi." 

Luke's smile back to him was happy, as it always was, but there was a new layer to it that Reggie didn't quite recognize. Luke seemed to pull Reggie even closer to him by the arm around Reggie's waist, their faces close together. The arm around him felt a little tight, Luke’s hand practically rigid instead of moving in circles against Reggie’s hip like he was used to. Reggie gave him a confused look for just a second, then turned back away from his boyfriend to the bar of the club the band had played in tonight, facing his conversation partner. 

"Derek, this is our lead guitarist, Luke. Luke, this is Derek," he introduced them. 

Derek's demeanor seemed to have shifted in the short amount of time since Luke had appeared; rather than his relaxed and happy posture, the man stood up a little straighter, almost tense looking. He was making eye contact with Luke, then cleared his throat, looking away. 

"Cool. I'm also Reggie's boyfriend," Luke announced, holding out his hand for Derek to shake.

"Nice to meet you, man. You guys had a great set," Derek smiled politely, taking Luke's hand, but frowning- grimacing, almost- as soon as he had. Luke just hummed in response, causing Reggie to frown. Luke never passed up an opportunity to brag about the band. 

But Luke turned his head back to face Reggie, saying, "We got all the equipment packed up, babe, so we should head out soon."

Reggie frowned at him, but nodded. "Yeah, okay." 

Turning back to Derek, "Maybe I'll be able to catch you at another gig? You can tell me how it goes for you next week." 

Derek just gave him a tight smile and a nod. "Yeah, maybe. It was nice to meet you, Reggie. Luke." 

With that, Derek quickly made his way away from the bar, one last glance at Luke that spoke volumes. It hit Reggie in that moment. The bassist shook his head, scoffing a little as he did so. 

"Wow, Luke, that was real mature," Reggie let out, tight lipped as he pulled himself away from Luke's embrace. 

"What?" Luke played innocent, trying to bring Reggie back to him. The bassist held a hand against Luke's chest to stop him from coming closer. 

_ "What?" _ he mocked, rolling his eyes. "So you're telling me you didn't just come over here and make it as obvious as humanly possible that we're dating  _ just  _ to get a guy to stop talking to me?"

Luke flushed red a little bit, causing Reggie to purse his lips. He looked off into the crowd of people, hoping to spot Derek so he could apologize for his boyfriend's behavior. He didn't see him, unfortunately, which only added to Reggie's annoyance. 

"The van better actually be packed," he told Luke. The guitarist, at least, had the decency to look sheepish. 

"It is! Look, I was just-"

"No, Luke, I don't really want to talk to you while you're being a possessive asshole. Go piss off Julie or something."

Reggie pushed off from where he was leaning against the bar, making his way through the crowd to where the stage was. He could feel Luke only a few steps behind him, scrambling to keep up.

"I wasn't being possessive!" Luke called out.

"Oh, really?" Reggie asked, stopping to spin around and face his boyfriend. "So the death grip arm around my waist was just your casual affection, then?"

Luke opened and shut his mouth, not coming up with whatever words he decided was going to be a good explanation. Reggie didn’t give him much of a chance to come up with the words, not in the mood for it anyway. He started walking again, heading to the backstage door of the club. Luke called out after him. 

“Reggie, stop!”

The bassist kept walking, pushing open the door that led into their greenroom. Julie and Alex had already grabbed their things and headed to the van it looked like, so the room was just Reggie and Luke. 

“Listen, I’m not the one who was letting some guy drape himself over me!” Luke protested, his voice growing harder. 

“Drape himself- you mean  _ stand next to each other at the bar? _ Because really, if that’s your problem, you should have been literally fighting Alex or Julie by now.”

“Yeah, because you let everyone who stands next to you put their hand on their shoulder and  _ hug  _ you, right, Reg? Just standing next to each other my ass,” Luke finished his last sentence with a mumble, shaking his head and turning his back to Reggie. 

Reggie grabbed his things with a tight grip, forcing his arms through his leather jacket. “Well, gee, Luke. Didn’t realize that being in a relationship meant I wasn’t allowed to touch anyone anymore. Want me to go ahead and send out a mass text to everyone in my contacts? ‘Sorry, everyone! All hugs must now be approved by Luke Patterson. Please give 24 hour notice on all physical affection.’”

Luke glared at him fiercely. “That’s  _ not  _ what I meant, Reggie. Some random dude was hugging my boyfriend-”

“And maybe, if you had just  _ asked _ who the random guy- Derek, by the way- was instead of acting like a dick-”

“He was hitting on you!”

“Oh, for the love of- No, he wasn’t!”

Luke scoffed, “Like you would even realize. It took you three years to realize I was flirting with you.”

“You flirt with everyone!” Reggie shot back loudly. “Which, by the way, is a whole new point of conversation, you hypocritical jerk.”

“Oh, so if I’m a hypocrite then you  _ were  _ flirting with him? Just want that to be clear.”

“I wasn’t fucking flirting, Luke. When exactly was the last time I flirted with anyone who wasn’t you? He was just a nice person I met when I went to get a drink. We started talking. You talk to people at concerts and venues all the time! But I guess god-forbid I make any friends outside of this damn band.”

“You introduced me as  _ the lead guitarist _ .” Luke complained sharply. “Nice to know I mean so much to you.”

“We were talking about the  _ band _ and you’re a member of the  _ band _ , Luke. Figured it was a pretty damn logical introduction, hon.”

Luke jerked a little bit at the pet name. Reggie very rarely called Luke “hon” or “honey”- it was Luke’s thing, his favorite pet name for Reggie. It was affection filled and loving with each use. For Reggie to use it during a discussion so heated was just a low blow. Reggie knew it, too, but he couldn’t be bothered to care right now. He was too upset. 

“Besides, pretty sure you were making that perfectly clear without my help.”

“Yeah, well, if you’re going to stand there with some guy hitting on you and not stopping it-”

“He wasn’t hitting on me!”

“Reggie-”

They were interrupted by a soft knock on the door. 

“Hey, are you guys ready yet? Alex is. . .” Julie trailed off as she opened the door, catching sight of them. 

Both of their postures were tense, making themselves taller. Their faces were contorted into angry looks, and they were standing on the far sides of the room, as far away from each other as they could get in the small room. Julie looked between them, her mouth open and eyes wide. 

“Is, um. . . everything okay in here?” she asked nervously. 

Shooting a glare to Reggie, Luke smiled tightly. “Just fucking fine,” he mumbled, pushing past Julie and out of the room. 

Their lead singer stared after him in surprise, looking back to Reggie after a minute. The question on her face was clear, but Reggie ignored it in favor of following his boyfriend’s actions of stomping out of the room. When Reggie and Julie made it to the alley where the Julie and the Phantoms van was parked and filled with all their things, Luke was already seated, jaw visibly clenched and his eyes staring out the window to nothing. Alex looked awkward and confused, shooting a look to Julie. As Reggie climbed into the van, not looking at Luke as he took a seat, he could see Julie give Alex a wide-eyed look and shrug. 

The band had never had such a silent ride back to the studio in the six years they’d been together. Julie had tried to initiate conversation, letting out a silent, “So. . . what did you guys think of the club? The manager asked if we’d be interested in playing there again.”

Her question went unanswered save for Luke’s loud huff at the thought of ever going back there again. Reggie had rolled his eyes at the sound. 

“Okay,” Julie said a moment later, voice higher and awkward sounding. 

Alex didn’t even bother turning on the radio as he drove. Unpacking the van once they’d arrived at Julie’s father’s house was just as painfully silent. The band moved in tandem, moving all their equipment back to their rehearsal spots. Luke and Reggie tried to never be in the same spot at once. If Reggie was grabbing something from the van, Luke was in the studio. When they were around each other, unavoidable considering there wasn’t much space to go away from each other, it was an exchange of glares or passive aggressive sighs. 

“Okay,” Alex said as he finished putting the last amp down in the studio. “What the hell is going on with you two?”

Julie shot Alex a wide eyed look, like they’d both agreed to not even try to interfere with whatever was going one with the couple and Alex was betraying her. Alex just waved her off, keeping his eyes flickering between the couple. If Reggie was in a better mood he might have found the exchange comical. Right now, though, Reggie just crossed his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow to Luke as if to ask  _ “Would you like to explain?” _ Luke just glared back at him, lips pressed in a thin line. Reggie rolled his eyes. 

“Luke doesn’t trust me, that’s what’s going on,” Reggie spat out, not bothering to turn back to Alex. Luke’s mouth fell open around a scoff. 

“What the hell are you talking about? I never said I didn’t trust you!”

“Really? I’m pretty sure your “this one’s mine!” attitude said a hell of a lot there, babe.”

“Would you stop saying shit like that? I wasn’t some asshole claiming ownership over you, I was-”

“Enough!” Alex’s voice rang out over both of them. They turned back to their bandmates. Julie looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here right now, gaze masterfully trained on anything but them. Alex just looked pissed off. 

“What the everliving fuck are you two going on about?” he demanded. When neither of them answered, the drummer rolled his eyes. “This is ridiculous. You sound like children. Instead of just yelling at each other, why don’t you both try to act the 23 year olds you are, and  _ talk _ about whatever happened before we left the club?”

Luke and Reggie just stood on opposite ends of the studio, arms crossed over their chests and eyes trained to the ground, like kids getting scolded by their parents. 

With a loud, annoyed sigh, Alex announced, “Julie and I are going home. We’re taking the van. When you two decide to figure your shit out, you can get an Uber back to the apartment. Jules and I will be waiting with hot chocolate and a movie.”

Julie looked pleased to have the out Alex was giving her, always one to hate any sort of confrontation. Reggie almost felt bad for fighting in front of both her and Alex. Without another word from either of them, Alex and Julie took each other’s hands, walking out of the studio to head back to the band’s shared home in Hollywood. 

Luke and Reggie were left in the silent, dimmed room of the studio. Neither of them looked at the other, lips pursed and foreheads crinkled in frowns. Reggie wasn’t sure how long it was before Luke spoke again.

“I trust you,” he let out quietly, though his voice was still hardened. 

“People who trust their partners don’t get jealous enough to scare off anyone their boyfriend is talking to. What exactly did you think I was going to do?”

“Nothing!” Luke spoke defensively. 

“Then why-”

“I’m scared, okay?” Luke practically shouted at him, his voice breaking ever so slightly over the words. “I’m scared. We’ve only been together for three months, but I’ve been in love with you for  _ years, _ Reggie. And now- sometimes I think it’s a dream. That I’m gonna wake up one morning, alone in bed, and it will have been a dream. Or- or that you’re going to find someone better than me and I’ll lose you. And I know it’s stupid, I know you’re not that type of person and that you love me, I just. . . I’m so scared of losing you, Reg.”

Reggie just stared at him for a moment. All the fight in Luke seemed to have faded out from him. His shoulders had lost their tension and were slumping. Luke’s vibrant eyes- shining even in anger- had dimmed and dulled. He wasn’t looking at Reggie anymore, and he’d wrapped his arms around himself in a way that made Luke look small. Reggie hesitated only a moment more before swiftly moving across the studio, closing the space that had been living between them since the bar. As Reggie came toe to toe with Luke, his boyfriend lifted his gaze, looking at him with confusion and maybe a little shock in his eyes. Reggie didn’t give him any more time to react, placing a hand on each side of Luke’s face and pulling him into a kiss. 

It was the first one they’d shared in  _ hours _ \- a new record for them. From even before they’d started dating, they’d always been  _ those _ people. The ones who made you wish you had that friendship, those casual touches of support and affection, the laughter that filled rooms and never seemed to fade. From their first date, it had only gotten worse. They were the sickenly sweet couple everyone wished they were. Their touches evolved into hand-holding, arms around shoulders and waists, kisses on the cheek and lips. It was more uncommon to see them  _ not  _ touching each other. In all their years of knowing each other, going on over a decade now, they rarely, if ever, fought with each other. They had disagreements, of course, but it wasn’t fighting, it wasn’t standing feet apart and just snapping and yelling at each other. 

Luke was surprised by the kiss, Reggie could tell. But the guitarist accepted it wholeheartedly, pushing back into the kiss just as soundly as Reggie had. Luke’s hands came to rest on Reggie’s hips, gripping the material of his t-shirt tightly. Reggie swiped his thumbs across Luke’s cheekbones, pulling his mouth away. 

“You’re right,” Reggie said. “That is stupid.”

Luke made a low whining sound in his throat, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked at Reggie. The bassist kept his hands holding Luke’s cheeks, making sure his boyfriend couldn’t look away from him as he softened his voice and spoke again.

“Luke, sweetheart, I am so in love with you. You walk into a room and I forget how to  _ breathe _ . If I’m having a shitty day, all you need to do is smile at me and I feel better. You’re my best friend, and you make me so fucking happy. I’ve loved you for years, too, remember? No one-  _ no one _ \- is ever going to be better than you. You and me- this is our life. Not a dream, not a limited edition special. Permanent reality, baby. You’re not going to lose me- now or ever.”

Luke was looking at him with wet eyes, and he gave a nod of his head best he could while Reggie’s hands held his face. Reggie smiled at him, leaning their foreheads together. Luke’s hand unfurled from their death grip on his shirt, arms wrapping around his waist. It was far more gentle and affectionate than earlier tonight, and Reggie instinctively felt himself relax. 

“But, Luke,” Reggie spoke again, “none of that makes what happened tonight okay. For what either of us did. We have to talk about this. You can’t just-  _ We  _ can’t. . . We have to talk about this. Please?”

Luke looked pained by the prospect, like he just wanted to let it all go, but Reggie wasn’t going to let that happen. So Luke let out a small, shaky breath, and nodded. 

“Yeah, hon,” he agreed, releasing Reggie from his embrace so they could move over to the couch. They sat with space between them, just enough so they could properly face each other. Reggie could tell it was uncomfortable and awkward for them both to sit like that, and he reached out, grabbing Luke’s hand in his. Luke smiled at that, intertwining their fingers and squeezing gently. 

“I blew it out of proportion,” Reggie started. “I just got mad and started freaking out, and I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry. But you- Luke, you’ve never acted like that before? We’ve checked upon each other if we think the other is uncomfortable- even before we started dating- but I wasn’t uncomfortable. And I think you know that. So what was going on?”

Luke sighed, eyes meeting Reggie’s for a quick second before looking away. “There was this group of girls by the stage as we were packing up. You’d gone to get a drink, and then the three of them started talking about you. They said something about that cute guy you were hugging, and about how good you guys looked together. I don’t think Julie and Alex heard, but I just. . . I turned around and sure enough- there was this guy with swoopy blond hair and a smile I could see from stage. This picture perfect guy was talking to my boyfriend and all I could think was this was it. This was the moment you realized that I wasn’t worth it, or that this guy was just perfect and forgot all about me. And I know- I  _ know-  _ it was dumb. I probably wouldn’t have even thought about it without those girls saying you guys looked cute together. I realized you  _ did  _ look cute together, and what if we didn’t look like that when we talk to each other, and why did they just assume you were with him when I was right fucking there?”

Reggie scooted an inch more forward on the couch, pulling their linked hands into his lap. 

“First of all, the only couple who might have us beat for cuteness is Alex and Willie, and you’re not allowed to tell them or Julie and Flynn that I said that-” Luke laughed a little, “-and second, sweetheart, it’s not like we’ve exactly made our relationship public to our fans. And if you want to tell everyone- I’m totally down for that, babe. I’ve got a whole book’s worth of songs written about you that would be a perfect announcement.”

Luke laughed again, and Reggie smiled at the sound. As angry as he’d been earlier, the sound of Luke’s laugh would always be music to his ears; it was irresistible to smile. And Reggie had known that Luke was insecure about things; it was impossible to not know that when they’d been best friends since age 13 and since he’d been in love with Luke for years now. Reggie just hadn’t realized that their relationship was something Luke was worried about. It hurt him to know that Luke was so down on himself that he still didn’t understand that in Reggie’s eyes, there was never going to be anyone else. 

“The way that guy looked was just- he looked happy and animated and fucking  _ giggly _ \- it’s the same way I look when I’m around you. Seeing that just hit another wrong note in my brain, I guess, and, well. . .” Luke trailed off, looking down at their joint hands. 

Reggie huffed a little, shaking his head. “Derek wasn’t talking about  _ me _ , Luke. He saw me at the bar getting a drink and wanted to congratulate us on the set tonight. I asked him if he’d heard us play before, and he told me about how he’d met his boyfriend at one of our concerts last year.”

Luke’s mouth fell open just a little bit, and his face reddened. Reggie found the corners of his lips twitching up slightly at the sight. 

“And I hugged him because he told me he was planning on proposing to his boyfriend next week. Derek wasn’t flirting with me, and he wasn’t hitting on me. We were just talking.”

After a moment or two of silence, Luke whispered, “I’m sorry, Reggie.”

“You should be,” Reggie teased, but there was seriousness braided through his tone. “Next time just- talk to me. Ask me what’s going on, pull me off to the side to tell me that your thoughts are being mean to you, whatever you need to do. It’s okay if you get jealous, everyone does. I mean, you have girls tripping over themselves to get to you after  _ every single gig _ . I get jealous, too. But this inserting yourself- puffing out your chest like it’s some challenge- that can’t happen, okay?”

“You’re right,” Luke said, him being the one to scoot closer on the couch this time. “I promise I’ll talk to you next time. And I really am so fucking sorry. About being a jerk, for assuming shit, and for making you think I don’t trust you. I do, I swear.”

“I know you do. And I forgive you, sweetheart. I’m sorry, too. For starting the fight instead of asking you why you were acting like that. I guess this whole thing could have been avoided, huh?”

Luke gave a half smile. “I forgive you, too, honey. Apparently we should have listened better when Julie ranted at us about “the art of communication” when she and Alex staged an intervention.”

Reggie laughed. Julie and Alex had gotten so fed up with the two of them dancing around their feelings for each other, flirting but never doing anything about it, that they’d set up a whole intervention one night during dinner. Alex had very kindly made Luke and Reggie’s favorite foods and came armed with his Mom Friend stare, and Julie had come in with a 20 slide presentation and a face of exasperation that was enough to make even the most powerful person in the world feel like they’d done something wrong. 

When Reggie finished laughing, he found Luke watching him with a soft, fond looking gaze and a smile. 

“I love you,” the guitarist let out. 

“I love you, too. Even when one or both of us are being assholes.”

Luke scoffed, “Speaking of being assholes- I can’t believe those two took the damn van! An Uber is going to be so expensive, are you kidding me-” 

Before Luke could finish his rant, Reggie reached his free hand up and guided Luke’s chin so he could silence his boyfriend with a kiss. Luke’s words cut off abruptly, the guitarist melting into the kiss easily. Reggie kept it short and sweet, smiling against Luke’s lips. He felt his boyfriend smile back before Luke pulled away, moving to kiss Reggie’s cheeks, forehead, nose, chin, and basically anywhere on Reggie’s face he could reach until the bassist was a giggling mess on the couch. He reached up, stopping Luke’s lips from coming back to his face with his hand, pushing him away. 

“Knock it off, you dork.”

Luke just smiled innocently, squeezing Reggie’s hand where they were still resting against Reggie’s lap. Reggie watched him fondly. They still had so much to talk about; they hadn’t even touched on Luke’s self doubt, they clearly needed to both verbally express the commitment they had in one another, there were still topics on both their parts from their earlier fight that needed to be brought back up. But Reggie knew tonight wasn’t the night for it. They’d already gone on an emotional rollercoaster from the high of performing at the club, to the moment at the bar, to the fight and angry silence, to an emotional talk, to falling right back into their silly, loving affections. They could talk more tomorrow. 

“Come on,” Reggie said, standing up and pulling Luke with him. “I’m sure Carlos is still awake and if we bribe him with food he’ll let us borrow his car.”

Luke let out a happy noise, following Reggie’s lead out of the garage that had served as their studio for six years now. When Luke wrapped an arm around Reggie’s waist as they walked, Reggie didn’t mind it one bit this time. He leaned into Luke’s embrace, pointing to the Molina house with a laugh where they could see that Carlos’ bedroom light was indeed still on at the late hour. As Luke leaned over, kissing Reggie’s cheek in celebration that they wouldn’t have to call for an Uber, Reggie smiled. Yeah, he thought, the rest of their conversation could wait until tomorrow. 

**Author's Note:**

> Shh, what are you talking about?? I don't have a bunch of WIPs/fic ideas that I'm supposed to be working on. I definitely didn't write this instead. You don't know what you're talking about. 
> 
> They both said a lot of shit to be addressed and need some Long Conversations about it, but this was already getting long and I didn't want to include them. Being jealous every once in a while is okay and natural, just don't be a jerk about it!! Talk things through with your partner!! Brought to you by: Unsolicited Relationship Advice with Faye <3
> 
> Okay, y'all. Reggie Peters. Luke Patterson. What's our official ship name? I'm kinda leaning towards PeterPatter because it's adorable. Let me know your thoughts.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed my angsty, fighting!Reg/Luke fic. It was interesting to write, but I like it. Thanks for reading!! <3


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